Hesh Wiener
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Mad Dog 21/21: Leverage
September 4, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreArchimedes was talking about leverage, one of his favorite topics. He said, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.” The Sicilian from Syracuse probably knew more about mechanical leverage than anyone of his era, which was the third century BC, but he didn’t know about financial leverage. Some people are still finding out about financial leverage, particularly on Wall Street, and doing it the hard way. What they cannot learn from Archimedes they might try to garner from IBM, which looks like it knows a little more about the topic than most companies.
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Mad Dog 21/21: Leverage
September 4, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreArchimedes was talking about leverage, one of his favorite topics. He said, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.” The Sicilian from Syracuse probably knew more about mechanical leverage than anyone of his era, which was the third century BC, but he didn’t know about financial leverage. Some people are still finding out about financial leverage, particularly on Wall Street, and doing it the hard way. What they cannot learn from Archimedes they might try to garner from IBM, which looks like it knows a little more about the topic than most companies.
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Mad Dog 21/21: Leverage
September 4, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreArchimedes was talking about leverage, one of his favorite topics. He said, “Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.” The Sicilian from Syracuse probably knew more about mechanical leverage than anyone of his era, which was the third century BC, but he didn’t know about financial leverage. Some people are still finding out about financial leverage, particularly on Wall Street, and doing it the hard way. What they cannot learn from Archimedes they might try to garner from IBM, which looks like it knows a little more about the topic than most companies.
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Mad Dog 21/21: Classical Architecture
August 13, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn the 16th century, the Italian architect Andrea Palladio designed buildings that reached back 2,000 years to the golden age of Greece for their inspiration. Two hundred years later, during what would be called the neoclassical period, Thomas Jefferson built Monticello, a tribute to Palladio’s work. Even today, classical architecture remains an influence in the construction of buildings that are intended to be monuments to governmental power, educational prowess, or financial strength. Computers have architectures, too, and some of them are indeed classical in their own way. IBM‘s computer architects, at their best, understand classical aesthetics.
IBM’s system designers
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Mad Dog 21/21: Classical Architecture
August 13, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn the 16th century, the Italian architect Andrea Palladio designed buildings that reached back 2,000 years to the golden age of Greece for their inspiration. Two hundred years later, during what would be called the neoclassical period, Thomas Jefferson built Monticello, a tribute to Palladio’s work. Even today, classical architecture remains an influence in the construction of buildings that are intended to be monuments to governmental power, educational prowess, or financial strength. Computers have architectures, too, and some of them are indeed classical in their own way. IBM‘s computer architects, at their best, understand classical aesthetics.
IBM’s system designers
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Mad Dog 21/21: Classical Architecture
August 13, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn the 16th century, the Italian architect Andrea Palladio designed buildings that reached back 2,000 years to the golden age of Greece for their inspiration. Two hundred years later, during what would be called the neoclassical period, Thomas Jefferson built Monticello, a tribute to Palladio’s work. Even today, classical architecture remains an influence in the construction of buildings that are intended to be monuments to governmental power, educational prowess, or financial strength. Computers have architectures, too, and some of them are indeed classical in their own way. IBM‘s computer architects, at their best, understand classical aesthetics.
IBM’s system designers
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Mad Dog 21/21: To Avatar and Avatar Not
July 16, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn the Hindu tradition, an avatar is the physical manifestation of a god; the principal avatars are incarnations of Vishnu, but there are others, too. Similar concepts exist in other religions, even ones that are not dharmic. In computing, an avatar is an animated sprite or icon that represents a real or invented player in a virtual amusement such as Second Life. In finance, an avatar is what IBM set up in Holland to obtain favorable tax treatment for a $12.5 billion stock repurchase, provoking the IRS to ban future incarnations of that particular caper.
So,
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Mad Dog 21/21: To Avatar and Avatar Not
July 16, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn the Hindu tradition, an avatar is the physical manifestation of a god; the principal avatars are incarnations of Vishnu, but there are others, too. Similar concepts exist in other religions, even ones that are not dharmic. In computing, an avatar is an animated sprite or icon that represents a real or invented player in a virtual amusement such as Second Life. In finance, an avatar is what IBM set up in Holland to obtain favorable tax treatment for a $12.5 billion stock repurchase, provoking the IRS to ban future incarnations of that particular caper.
So,
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Mad Dog 21/21: To Avatar and Avatar Not
July 16, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIn the Hindu tradition, an avatar is the physical manifestation of a god; the principal avatars are incarnations of Vishnu, but there are others, too. Similar concepts exist in other religions, even ones that are not dharmic. In computing, an avatar is an animated sprite or icon that represents a real or invented player in a virtual amusement such as Second Life. In finance, an avatar is what IBM set up in Holland to obtain favorable tax treatment for a $12.5 billion stock repurchase, provoking the IRS to ban future incarnations of that particular caper.
So,
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Mad Dog 21/21: Missing Inaction
June 4, 2007 Hesh Wiener
… Read moreIBM, which is neck-and-neck in the server trade with Hewlett-Packard, formerly made typewriters, disk drives, printers, and personal computers. Over the past two decades it shed many of the products it used to manufacture, by continued to grow by creating a huge services group and absorbing a number of software companies. Except for its typewriters, none of the products IBM dropped have disappeared, the way DB Cooper, Jimmy Hoffa, or Judge Crater vanished. Today, IBM still manufactures some servers and storage devices, and perhaps it doesn’t have to manufacture anything at all.
IBM acts as if